Mentos Makes Your World Go Rounder

Here is my entry for the Mentos Makes Your World Go Rounder contest.

I’d love it if you voted for my idea (just click on the picture, then click on Vote on the bottom left side.)

I mean, who doesn’t love a good carousel ride?

One Lonely Sea Monkey

As you know, I bought some Sea Monkeys a few months ago and was so excited to watch them hatch and grow. After a minor mishap with non-bottled water by a mystery person, I thought that things were back on track. I thought wrong.

As of last night, I have one Sea Monkey left. Just one, lonely little shrimp swimming around. Sometimes when I rotate their tank, I see some remnants of Sea Monkeys past float around, or get stuck on the back of the only one left.  I’m not sure what happened. I feed them and even put in the special egg-hatching powder to wake up the slower hatching eggs. They get enough sunlight and sleep at night. I guess it was just meant to be.

Adam Lambert knows how to stay relevant, Perez Hilton does not

I’ve been reading Perez Hilton less and less over the past year because I really can’t stand how he treats people, celebrity or not.

This morning, this article came up in my Google Reader about how Adam Lambert was “acting lame” because he refuses to come out to the media as a gay man. (I’d just like to note that I didn’t watch American Idol, but I did read a lot about it, and saw many people on Twitter tweeting about it.) The first thing I thought was, oh, here we go again! Here’s yet another case of Clay Aiken and Neil Patrick Harris. I really don’t know why Perez feels that he needs to be the one to out celebrities just because he’s gay.

Just because Adam Lambert doesn’t want to say, “yes, I’m gay” or “no, I’m not gay” shouldn’t give Perez any reason to say, “just admit it homo, so we  can all go home!” Really? I’ve always thought of the word homo as a derogatory term, but I guess it’s OK for Perez to say it because he’s gay.

Hey, Perez! It’s called keeping the media interested and staying relevant. Leave the poor guy alone and go back to drawing dicks and cum on pictures. It’s not your job to out people. Oh wait, that’s how you’re trying to stay relevant. Got ‘cha.

Trouble Sleeping

For the past two and a half weeks, Danka, my almost 8 year-old cat, has been waking me up everyday (including weekends) between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. and I have no idea why.

Danka is a cuddler, and she has been sleeping with me every night since she was a kitten. She is always the “little spoon” and usually stays put, or moves when I move while sleeping. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case now.

Every morning like clockwork, Danka has been showing me violent love by walking on my head or hair, pawing at my face and the comforter to get back under the covers, or just jumping out of bed and walking in and out of my bedroom. She has plenty of food in her dish and has two water bowls. I don’t think she wants to play, because she knows her toys go away when we go to bed. If I leave them out, she will start playing with them in the middle of the night.

At this point, I’m at my wit’s end. I’m exhausted to the point when I’m really emotional; not cranky, but on the verge of crying. I’m finding it hard to function at work because I can’t concentrate because I’m so tired.

If anyone can offer any ideas as to why Danka started doing this, literally out of nowhere, I will be eternally grateful.

What she should be doing

BikiniBook

Randomly Sunday night, I saw that Shanna Moakler tweeted for ladies to go onto Facebook and sign up for BikiniBook. Intrigued, I did a search and found the group. It was a group of over 1,700 people (mostly women) who wanted to get bikini ready, but also offer support and guidance. There are teams and a team captain, although I’m not on a team (by choice.) Each task and goal for the day is worth one point; you have to keep a food journal, drink at least four bottles of water daily, plus half your weight (in ounces), exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes, each two servings of fruits and veggies, and of course, no junk food whatsoever, among a few more set in stone rules.

The new challenge started on Monday, April 27, so I thought this would be the perfect way to start getting into shape. I mentioned the group to Travis, and he’s going to get summer ready too, not that he’ll be wearing a bikini.

My goal is to lose weight and get fit, something that hasn’t happened for me in a really long time. I also keep saying that this coming summer, I’ll be bathing suit ready, but it never happens, probably because I had always been lacking the motivation. I never had anyone cheering me on, but this time it’s different, I have Travis.

Yesterday was day one on the routine, and let me tell you, eating less and avoiding the temptation to eat junk food, or just unhealthy food was really hard. I had become so accustomed to snacking a lot at work out of boredom, but yesterday, I fought off the urge to snack. My mom and I went for a nice walk, and I ate significantly less at dinner. I was still hungry, but I waited as long as I could to get a snack, and when I did, I had some clementines.

I felt really proud of myself when I went to bed knowing that I didn’t stuff my face during the day. I drank five bottles of water yesterday, and today, I’m going to increase that by one.

If you want more information about BikiniBook, check out the link here.

Last night, Travis told me what he was trying to plan for my 25th birthday, so I started this routine at the right time! More to come later about what that sneaky devil has up his sleeve.

The Way I See It #21

“People need to see that, far from being an obstacle, the world’s diversity of languages, religions and traditions is a great treasure, affording us precious opportunities to recognize ourselves in others.”

– Youssou N’Dour, Musician

Sea-Monkeys Update

This morning, I came into work to find my Sea-Monkeys sluggishly swimming about their kingdom. When I looked closer, I noticed that the water level had raise significantly, covering about half of the air-holes at the top of the container.

Sometime last night after I left work, someone had added more water to their house. This infuriated me to no end. I’m mad because,

• Someone came to my desk and touched my things
• Someone (more than likely) added tap water to their container when they need filtered/purified water (water from a water bottle)
• They were showing obvious signs of dying

I managed to remove a good portion of the water using the suction device the kit came with, and the little monkeys began showing signs of activity almost instantly.

The little guys and gals are doing great! Yesterday was the first time I got to feed them, and they seems really happy after their food was added.

Some of the bigger ones are developing nicely, and I can see their black eyes and digestive system starting to form. More monkeys are still hatching, and it’s been almost a week since I added the eggs.

I’ll post pictures later tonight :)

What I Like About You

Here’s what I like love about my relationship with Travis:

While most couples I know relish in taking copious amounts of pictures of one another to capture every waking moment, we don’t. My favourite moments of us are not captured on film, digitally or other wise, but through memories.  I love knowing that I’m sharing something special with him, and not the rest of the world.

Sea Monkeys!

On Monday, I did something I’ve wanted to do for years. Now that I’m almost 25 years old, I had a “why the hell not!” moment while browsing through the Toys R Us aisles. I bought my first ever Sea Monkeys kit!

There it was, the  Amazing Live Sea Monkeys Magic Castle lumped in with the other DIY science kits for kids.  I just couldn’t resist the tacky pink and blue castle at the bottom of the plastic sea floor.

This afternoon, I completed step one: water purification. I have to wait 24 hours for the water to well, purify and get warmer so the little eggs that I get to add tomorrow start hatching right away.

I figured that doing a daily update on my Sea Monkeys will be a good way for me to keep updating my blog, since I have started sucking at it again.

Willpower (aka Giving Things up for Lent)

I made the decision months ago that for Lent in 2009, I would test out my willpower and give up Starbucks. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Rachel, you’re crazy!” and to that I say, I know.

Here’s the deal. I need to start saving cash, especially if I plan on moving out and being a responsible human being who needs to pay bills and rent (or, God forbid, a mortgage.) What’s the easiest way to cut back and save money? Cutting back on my Starbucks habit. See mom, I’m responsible!

I didn’t need an intervention or anything like that, but spending $5 or more in one sitting is really silly anyway you look at it. Yes, I know their specialty coffees are delicious, and the baristas are so polite, but I can’t turn my back on myself and the promise I made. Regardless if I practice Catholicism or not (not.)

It’s going to be a fun little experiment for me. I’ve already gone almost three weeks without Starbucks, so I think I’m in the clear until April 11.

Wish me luck, and for the love of God, don’t tempt me!

Farewell, sweet prince!